Pubdate: Fri, 17 May 2002
Source: Goldsboro News-Argus (NC)
Website: http://www.newsargus.com/index.html
Address: P.O. Box 10629, Goldsboro, N.C. 27532
Contact:  2002, Goldsboro News-Argus
Author: Mike Rouse
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/walters.htm (Walters, John)

LOSING A WAR

Millions More Are Wasted On Anti-Drug Commercials

The federal government has again thrown away a few hundred million dollars 
in its anti-drug crusade.

It isn't new that money is being wasted that way. Billions of tax dollars 
have been blown over the years to try to dissuade people from using drugs. 
What's different this time is that a government official actually bestirred 
himself to find out whether an initiative was effective. And then, when the 
results were negative, he said so.

That someone is John P. Walters, the head of President Bush's drug policy 
office.

Walters had his doubts about television commercials on which the government 
has spent $180 million. These ads feature electric guitars and 
skateboarding as a cooler alternative to the old "Just Say No" ads that we 
used to see.

If anyone ever did a survey about the "Just Say No" ads, they would 
probably be found to be impotent, too. Of the latest ads, there is no doubt.

Walters had an extensive survey conducted. It found that drug use was no 
lower among teen-agers who had seen the commercials than among those who 
hadn't.

In fact, it was a little higher among those who had. That doesn't prove 
that the ads actually caused anyone to use drugs. But it certainly is a 
strong indication that they didn't work as intended.

On top of the billions that we have spent on such advertising over the 
years, we have spent other billions at all levels of government on law 
enforcement and prisons because of the drug trade. We have spent untold 
millions more, and lost many lives, in other countries in efforts to stop 
the export of drugs to the United States.

Yet, the use of illegal narcotics continues to be widespread.

Moreover, drug-related crime -- crimes committed by addicts to get money to 
assuage their expensive addictions -- make up the bulk of the crimes 
committed in the country.

In Walters' study, parents were surveyed about ads that urged them to be 
more involved in their childrens' lives. Eighty percent of those who saw 
the ads said they were positively influenced.

Perhaps it wouldn't be too big an exaggeration to say that this survey 
shows promise, and that parents really can be persuaded to talk more with 
their children about their social lives. And, if so, maybe it is true that 
fewer children would use drugs.

But that is too wobbly a proposition to look to as an answer to the drug 
problem. We need to seek other ways, altogether different from what we have 
tried, to get control of drugs.

Walters has introduced ads that link the purchase of drugs to the financing 
of terrorism, but so far there are no indications how effective that is.

It is doubtful that any ad campaign is going to make a real difference. The 
answer lies somewhere else.

Those who advocate these public appeals, and those who support the building 
of more and more prisons in which to house offenders, do so with the best 
of intentions. The trouble is that the war on drugs, as it has been 
conducted so far, is being lost.
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